Improvement in water-wheels



y UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN TEMPLE, WILLIAM M. MILLS, AND ATLAS L. STOUT, OF MIDDLE- TOWN,OHIO.

IMPROVEMENT IN WATER-WHEELS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 3 7,833, dated March 3,1833.

To all lwhom it may concern .Be it known that we, JOHN TEMPLE, WIL- LIAMM. MrLLs, and ATLAS L.- SroUT, of Middletown, in the county of Butlerand State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful Improvem entinWater-Wheels; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full andexact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings and the letters 0f reference thereon.

Figure I represents a horizontal plan view o? the wheel in section. Fig.Il is a vertical section of the same with our. improvement.

Our invention relates to certain improvements in that description ofwater-wheels known as the central-discharge horizontallysubmerged wheel,and the invention consists in the peculiar construction and formation ofthe ianges which constitute the top and bottom portions of the wheel,also, in the cornbination of these flanges with the cymavreversascroll-buckets, whereby greater advantages are obtained by the use ofany given force or head of water, while at the same time theconstruction is such as to be made or cast of metal with greaterfacility and at less expense, as herein more fully described.

In the drawings, A indicates the top iian ge or top part ot' the wheel.I3 refers to the lower an ge or portion of the wheel, and G indicatesthe buckets. O is the opening through which the water is discharged atthe center of the wheel.

The two rims or ianges A B are inclined downward toward the center'ofthe wheel at an angle of about thirty-three degrees. The lower or bottomflange forms at the base of the buckets an inclined plane from theperipheryofthe wheel to the annular discharge-space within, and the topiange or rim has the same general inclination, as before stated, but isof a curved form, its inner surface being concave, as may be seen in thedrawings at Fig. 2.

Although a good result may be secured by giving to the internal face ofthe upper iange a circular or cup formed depression, we have found inpractice that this surface of the flange, to operate to the bestadvantage, should be curved on its internal surface or face from theperiphery of the wheel to the annular discharge-opening, so that avertical line drawn from a point at the center of the upper flangeequdistant from the adjacent buckets, and from the outer and inner edgesof the said upper rim or flange to acorrespending point on the lower rimor flange, will be of greater length than vertical lines drawn from theouter or inner edges of these `flanges; in other words, thedistancebetween the two rims or anges is greater at the center, owing to thecurved form of the upper flange, than the distance at their edges.

The important objects attained in this improvement, which have provedhighly suc cessful in use, are the combina-tion of such elements in theconstruction of water-wheels as will secure not only all the force ofthe direct action of the water upon the face of the scroll-buckets, but,in addition to this percussive action, in a great measure, convert thereaction or backlash to aid in propelling the wheel by giving a downwarddirection to the water in its reaction, and thus augment the forceexerted by the hydrostatic pressure and gravity upon the inclined faceof the bottom flange or rim ofthe wheel.

By the above-described formation and' construction we combine theadvantages in a submerged horizontal water-wheel of the direct actionand backlash, together with the hydrostatic pressure or gravity of acolumn of water, to propel the wheel in its forward revolutions.Thisimproved wheel is intended to be used with the improved sluiceinvented and patented by Jonn Temple, February S, 1859, said patentbeing numbered 22,901.

It will be readily understood that this waterwheel, as seen in thedrawings, is composed of the two annular inclined rim or flanges, havingthe configuration, respectively, as above described, and between saidanges or rims is interposed a series of cyma-reversa or scrollbucketswith corresponding ingress and egress passages.

In the operation of the wheel the water is admitted to the bucketsthrough the adjustable gates and sluices, (described in the patent ofJohn Temple, above referred to,) and acts directly upon the faces of thescroll-buckets by its full percussive force, is then deflected downwardby means of the curved or concave face of the top ange or rim, thusadding to and augmenting the force of gravity exerted by the body of thewater passing down the inclined plane of the lower o'r bottom flange,which also inipels' the Wheel in its forward revolutions.

One of the practical advantages of' the depression or curved form of theupper ange, besides that of deecting the cur;ent of Water toward theinclined plane ofthe bottom ange, is its tendency to retain a movingcolumn of Water, Which shall act by hydrostatic pressure upon theinclined bottom ange, which is an inclined plane, declining not onlyfrom the periphery of the wheel toward its center, but also incliningtangentially from the in- .Y grress to the egress or disehargeopening,the

former being in advance of the latter as respects the direction of themovement of the wheel. By this means, also, We secure a continuouslyWcdging and gravitating action of the Water from the time it hasexpended its percussive force upon the scroll-buckets until it reachesthe finally-impinging point Where it is freely discharged.

JOHN TEMPLE. WM.. M. MILLS. ATLAS L. STOUT.

Witnesses:

G. REDDINGTON, H. P. K. PEcK.

